08 08 08 - 2008 Beijing Olympics
One of the five Official Fuwa Mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Photo by Michael Seto
The spirit, the celebrations and the pride of the Chinese people, captured by ALTRA's Beijing correspondents.
Beijing's Hidden Locals
by Michael Martin
Tourists attending the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be hard-pressed to find pieces of Chinese history and traditional culture scattered among the city’s man skyscrapers and shopping complexes. They will likely find a characteristic melding of Chinese tradition and new-age commecialism.
Beijing’s signature hutongs, mazes of alleyway homes and shops dating back to the Qing dynasty, represent this curious admixture. For the hutong communities that have survived the city’s wide-scale modernization projects, these mazes represents more than quaint walkways and tiled roves- they represents vibrant social networks. A boisterous cacophony of children at play, gossiping crones, arguing drunkards, the corner grocer- all in close quarters.
But the hutongs also represent a major moneymaker in the tourist and expat entertainment industry. As most of Beijing’s faint souvenirs of the past, the hutongs are often painted, refurbished, and lacquered for a foreign audience. Many of these close-knit communities now feature nightclubs, curio shops, posh bistros, and the homes of foreign enterprise CEOs.
Rest assured- this is the real Beijing-- marketing history and tradition, moving between noises of the past and the gentrification of internationalism.